The story behind our logo and name
The outline of Table Mountain
Although we live and work in the USA, the outline of Table Mountain reminds us of our roots in Cape Town, South Africa. South Africa is a diverse country that is a home to people from multiple languages and cultures. Our people are know for their resilience.
The color blue
The color blue represents both the sky and the sea and is associated with open spaces, freedom, inspiration and imagination. Blue also represents trust, loyalty, sincerity, wisdom, confidence, stability, faith, and intelligence.
Kulungile - "it's OK" or "you're welcome"
The Zulus use the word “ngiyabonga” to say “thank you” and “ngiyabonga kakhulu” to say “thank you very much” and you have to reply saying “kulungile” which means “it is OK” or “it is all right”. In English, we would say "you're welcome".
How to pronounce "Kulungile"
"Coo-loong-ghee-lee"
About Us
Wynand van Dyk, PhD
Wynand began his career in the Mining and Metallurgical industry in the 1990's as a plant metallurgist at De Beers. Following some time as Senior Process Engineer at Hatch Africa, he joined Lonmin Platinum as Metallurgical Project Manager. He successfully completed multiple capital projects and was asked to lead the 6 Sigma deployment at Lonmin as Program Manager. The success of this deployment was recognized internationally by the back-to-back winning of the “Best achievement in manufacturing” category at the Global Six Sigma Awards, held in Las Vegas USA. Following Senior Management roles where he headed up the Base Metal Refinery and the Technical team for the Process Division at Lonmin, he founded Arete Consultants (Pty) Ltd in South Africa. In 2019, Wynand and his family moved to Houston Texas where he joined Itafos Services LLC as Vice President: Engineering, R&D and Development. He founded Kulungile Consultants LLC in 2024 where he is the Managing Member and Senior Consultant.
Education:
- Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical/Extractive Metallurgy from the University of Stellenbosch
- PhD (Extractive Metallurgy) from the University of Stellenbosch
- Executive Development Program diploma from GIBS.
History: Arete Consultants (Pty) Ltd
Arete Consultants was founded to address the market need for a consulting partner specializing in unlocking value from existing processes, systems, and continuous improvement initiatives. We combined multiple facets including process optimization, continuous improvement, risk management, and project management to deliver significant value to clients.
During this time Dr van Dyk also served as adjunct professor and guest lecturer at esteemed educational institutions such as the University of Cape Town and the University of Stellenbosch and delivered lectures on SHE risks management, risk management in projects, project management, and continuous improvement.
Our clients over the years
We have actively engaged with top mining industry players, including:
African Rainbow Minerals | Anglo American | Anglo American Platinum | AngloGold Ashanti | De Beers Marine | De Beers
Marine Namibia | Debswana | Exxaro | Fraser Alexander Mineral Processes | Frontier Rare Earths | GB Minerals | Goldfields | JKTech | Kazakhmys | Kropz | Kumba Iron Ore | Lonmin Platinum | Lonmin Process Division | Mopani Copper Zambia | Namdeb | Norilsk Nickel | Ridge Mining | Scaw Metals | Simmer & Jack | Sylvania Resources | University of Cape Town | University of Stellenbosch | Xstrata Alloys | and Zimplats.
